Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (aiming to the abolition of the death penalty)

Convention on the Rights of the Child

Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Statute of the International Criminal Court (which excludes the death penalty)

situation:In February, 2010, Gabon completely abolished
the death penalty. Law 3/2010, which abolishes the death penalty in Gabon, was
approved by the Parliament in January and promulgated on February 15, 2010,
with the signature of the president of the Republic, Ali Bongo Ondimba, Prime
Minister Paul Biyogha Mba and Justice Minister Anicette Nanda Oviga.
According to the law, the death penalty is substituted with life imprisonment
with the possibility of pardon or amnesty, conditional freedom or alternative
means, only after having served at least thirty years of the punishment. The
law also abolishes forced labour.
On May 3, 2007, the Government of Gabon decided to undersign the “Declaration
of Association” against the death penalty presented to the United Nations by
the European Union on December 19, 2006. At the end of the Council of
Ministers, held in Libreville for the specific decision, the Government
declared in a press release: “in response to the appeal of the European Union
to institute a moratorium on the application of the death penalty, the Council
of Ministers has decided for the country’s adherence to this international
humanitarian initiative, which falls within the current politics of President
Omar Bongo Ondimba and of the Gabonese Government on this matter.” The decision
was adopted thanks to Aldo Ajello, already sent by the E.U. for the Great Lakes
Crisis, to whom the Italian Government entrusted a mission in Africa with the
goal of gathering support for the moratorium.
The last execution in Gabon took place in 1981.
On 2 April 2014, the Government of Gabon acceded to the Second Optional Protocol to
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights aiming at the
abolition of the death penalty.
On December 19, 2016, Gabon voted again in favour of the Resolution on a
Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly, but did not co-sponsored the text.

Hands off Cain is an international league of citizens and parliamentarians for the abolition of the death penalty in the world. It is a non-profit, non-violent, transnational and trans-national Partito Radicale founded in Brussels in 1993 and recognized in 2005 by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a development co-operation NGO.